“But I’ve got my name on the Jug, and I have my name on the Senior Jug, and I would feel bad taking the spot away from a young kid.
“I was a young kid once, so to take a spot away from a young kid who may fulfil his dream of playing the Championship, sure, I’ve done mine. I don’t know what I will do.
“Royal Portrush, as we all know, is very special. The guys all loved it the last time we were there.
“I think the golf course is going to present a very fair challenge as it did the last time. And I think Rors will be looking to do a bit better than he did the last time too. It will be exciting to get to get back to Portrush again. Just brilliant.
“But I’ve been thinking about it quite a lot. I’m 55 now, and I’ll be 56 next year for the Open at Portrush and it may be my last one and thank you very much, that’s enough for me and I can give some young kid an opportunity that I had whenever I was starting off.
“So we shall see, but I am certainly looking forward to being back in Portrush.”
Clarke was delighted to play all four rounds at Royal Troon and was seriously impressed by McKibbin (21), who has now made the cut in his first two majors.
The Newtownabbey star closed with a 74 to finish tied 67th on 12-over, having tied for 41st on his debut in last month’s US Open.
“Yeah, brilliant,” Clarke said of McKibbin. “Tom’s got a huge future. I played a practice round with him and Rory, and we’re sitting in there afterwards, and I said, ‘Tom, just you remember down the line at some stage, sitting in here and having this conversation. This is my 32nd Open and it’s your first’.
“So he’s a great young kid. I’m going to spend a lot of time with him trying to tighten up a few bits and pieces, but he’s got a huge future. Huge.”
McKibbin, who looks likely to win his PGA TOUR card via the Race to Dubai, was not doing cartwheels over his performance at Troon.
“Yeah, very average probably,” he said after rounds of 73, 72, 77 and 74. “I was all right. Two good rounds, a decent round and a pretty terrible round, but overall it was all right.”
Pleased to make the cut in his first two majors, he said: “I think I said a couple of months ago if I’ve played in the last two majors and made both cuts, I would have taken it.